Mithali Raj’s retirement from T20Is isn’t just the turning of a page. It is the beginning of the end of a book .

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Sep 03, 2019, 11.52 PM IST

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Mithali Raj (File Pic)

By Snehal Pradhan

Indian cricket will never be the same. Mithali Raj’s retirement from T20Is isn’t just the turning of a page. It is the beginning of the end of a book that we began reading in the last century, one that has enthralled us for two decades.

Mithali has announced the desire to win India the World Cup in 2021, so we will see her in ODIs, of course. That silky cover drive threading the gap will still befuddle fielders, the loft over midon will still appear later in the innings. Her game has evolved over time, her attire giving us clues: the wide brimmed hat was replaced by the helmet not because the bowlers were quicker, but because she was keener to sweep. What has not changed is the grace in the lines she draws as she bats, the determination in the wrists, the consistency in her excellence. This is what India will see less of, this is what we will miss.

Mithali leaves the shortest format with an anomalous record: the highest batting average but no strike rate, and perhaps there lies the story of her sojourn with the T20 format. Among players who have played at least 20 games, she is the only one to average above 37. But on her Cricinfo profile you will find no column for strike rate; for one game against the West Indies in 2012, Cricinfo does not have any data on the number of balls any of the batters faced. And so their algorithms remove that data set from Mithali’s page altogether.

It gives you an idea of the landscape in which she performed her mastery. Can you imagine, in this era of the internet, an international cricket match improperly recorded, no matter in which corner of the world it is being played? Such was the obscurity in which women’s cricket was then played, such was the anonymity that Mithali has helped dispel. Her century on ODI debut, way back in 1999, may not have even been a footnote in most newspapers. Now, news of her T20I retirement is trending. And she can take most of the credit for this change: each one of her 2,364 runs has been heralding Indian women’s cricket, each record ensuring the game remained in the public eye. She leaves this format as it’s sixth highest run scorer, India’s foremost champion. A rich haul, despite not being the most natural T20 cricketer, something that became apparent in the last few years.

Since being a part of India’s first ever T20I in 2006, Mithali spent more than half of her 84 T20 innings as an opener, starting in 2012. At the time the logic was sound, the fit was right; the best batter should get the most overs to bat. But even as the world’s approach to T20 evolved, and the need for players to play specific roles in specific phases emerged, India persisted with old ways, a move that in hindsight may have been detrimental to Mithali’s career, for little fault of her own. A more visionary management might have moved her to the middle-order sooner, where she could have played fulcrum to the likes of Harmanpreet Kaur and Jemimah Rodrigues. When the change did come, it came at the biggest stage in acrimonious circumstances; Mithali was dropped down the order in the opening game of the 2018 World T20, beginning a saga that saw her being excluded from the semi-final, which India went on to lose. The ensuing mud-slinging left all involved diminished; the then coach, Ramesh Powar, lost his job, and Mithali’s place and role in the XI had been uncertain since. But just as one unrecorded innings can’t diminish her statistics, recency bias will not affect her legacy. Her preparation is legendary; one coach told this writer of how Mithali faced twice as many balls in the nets as she was expecting to play in the match. The dressing room will miss her meticulously arranged kit bag, the one with the book tucked into the side pocket and spare gloves arranged on top.

She has now joined Jhulan Goswami in ditching the shortest format to focus on ODIs and Test cricket. And for the rest of the team, a new era begins. The shade provided by the twin banyan trees that Mithali and Goswami have been is now receding. The rest must now face the sun and find a way to put down lasting roots of their own.

(Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.)